Chronic Tacos: a Mexican twist for Vancouver

Vancouver is a city known for a few things, beautiful natural scenery, vibrant city life, great music and of course, mouth watering food. Our sushi is world famous, our Japanese infusion hotdogs have become an international phenomenon, our street vendors have shaped our culture, and now Mexican food has made it’s mark on the city. Chronic Tacos, an urban Mexican restaurant founded in California, has 7 locations outside of the golden state, and 4 of them are in the heart of Vancouver.

After hearing ad after ad on local radio stations, I knew I would have to check it out, so I took some friends down for a pre-concert dinner. I visited the Granville location, right in the middle of the Vancouver nightlife and concert scene. The restaurant perfectly reflected the culture of the area, with walls decorated in urban art, TVs hung up, showing the play-offs, and multiply pierced staff waiting to make up your tacos fresh.

I was impressed by the whole experience. Their radio tagline, “If it’s not fresh, what’s the point of putting it in your mouth?” now makes perfect sense to me, because the food was cheap (about 25 dollars for four people to eat) and just as fresh and delicious as they promised. I had their famous fish taco and couldn’t resist going back for another; this time, a chicken taco. I fell in love with the flavors! They were both divine, and I was told by my friends that the burrito option and less spicy option were equally as savory. Of course, they serve more than your basic tacos, everything from tostada bowls to nachos and quesadillas is available to fulfill your wildest mexican food dreams. Food coma, achieved.

 

textbook perfect taco

Another plus was the superb service. As I mentioned, everyone working there fit the lifestyle. The young employees were friendly, efficient and so relaxed. The store is open quite late to accommodate the partiers in need of a 2 am post club re-fueling. But even I (who am not of age & therefore do not go clubbing) felt at home at Chronic Tacos, despite my lack of tattoos.

I can now appreciate the recent addition to Vancouver’s food scene and I suggest everyone check it out, because who can’t appreciate the perfect taco?

Check out their website for more info on my new favorite taco makers.

-Neve

Cora's

I have been wanting to try a breakfast place in Coquitlam called Cora's for a while, and on saturday morning I finally got to go with a couple of my friends, and it definitely lived up to my expectations.
I got a strawberry waffle which was topped with whipped cream, and a lot of fresh strawberries.
My one friend ordered a raspberry crepe and my other friend ordered a spinach chedder omelete!
I was very impressed with how fresh everything was, and we also got very good portion sizes.
As a server myself, I am decently picky about the service I recieve eating out, and I've got to say the service was perfect!
The prices were decent, and you definitely feel like you are getting a lot of food for your money!



My friends and I have been trying to eat healthy recently, and it was very easy to do so at Cora`s with all the fresh fruit options.
When I go to breakfast places such as IHOP and Dennys I always overload on bacon,toast,and pancakes;however, at Cora`s all the fresh fruit choices look so delicious that you feel satisfied having that instead of a greasy breakfast!
I would definitely recommend Coras to everyone!
Great food, Great prices, and Great service!

Rock Cakes Anyone?

For anyone who’s ever read Harry Potter, they will probably remember Hagrid’s famous rock cakes (the ones that will break your teeth). I decided to use the Unofficial Harry Potter cookbook that I own to try and make my own version of these biscuits. There were good directions in this recipe, it was made similarly to how you would make a biscuit. I got out all my materials and then mixed all the dry ingredients together. After that I added the butter and then the wet ingredients and finally some raisins. It formed a sticky dough which I just scooped in balls onto the cookie sheet.

            When Harry and Ron talk about the rock cakes in the books they mention how they can hardly eat them because they will break their teeth! Unfortunately for them they didn’t have my version of the cakes which were very good. I found the recipe very easy to follow and the product turned out light and fluffy just like they were supposed to. I had to work hard to keep my sisters away after they came out of the oven.

            For anyone who is interested in trying to make these rock cakes themselves I would highly recommend this recipe, or if you are a major Harry Potter fan like myself I recommend the whole cookbook!

            Happy cooking.

The Famous Warehouse

 Working on a Thursday night, one of my co-workers had asked me if I wanted to go to a restaurant downtown. He told me it was very cheap there and good apparently. So later on after he sent me the website link so I could look up the menu and prices, and I was very surprised at it. I was very surprised to see that every item on the menu was $4.95. Actually, I found it pretty unbelievable. Everything was besides the specials. On Mondays they have all you can eat pasta for $6.95 and on Tuesday, they have Taco Tuesday where its all you can eat tacos for the same price. Also, on Wednesday, they have wing day, where all day, wings are for 15 cents with your choice of flavour; salt and pepper or hot.
  Besides having amazingly affordable food, apparently, they also have good music that plays in the restaurant. The operating hours for the restaurant are everyday, opening at 11:30am and closing at 2:00am. However, as told by my co-worker, its better to get there early, because comming later, it would be much harder to find a seat available. This restaurant is located Downtown Vancouver on 989 Granville street. With the price of the food, location and music, I honestly believe that this is a good restaurant and I'd recommend others to visit it, and have a good experience at The Famous Warehouse.

Eat Right 4 Your Type

There are 1000's of diets; however, they come with 1000's of different opinions. All I know is that one diet works and for everyone....

In mid grade 11 I was constantly easily physically and/or mentally fatigued, always hungry and thirsty and couldn't gain any muscle mass. My circulation was terrible along with my digestion which makes simple things in life unpleasant. These problems are things that almost everyone experiences, surprisingly these problems come from food we eat. The Blood Type Diet was recommended to me by a naturalistic doctor at "Biological Analysis" in Burnaby. The diet states that you should eat depending on your blood type, this sounded weird to me at first, but started to make more sense as I think one's blood type is a vital aspect to a person. I decided to give the diet a shot and it sucked at first, someone with blood type A like me must avoid many things, some of the notable ones include red meat, potatoes, corn and dairy, but there are many more, basically all you can eat are most vegetables,  most fruits, chicken and ancient grains. It was tough in the beginning because I crave all those foods, but after the first few months it's all good, you end up not wanting to touch the stuff as you realize how harmful they were to your body. After just 3 months I noticed slight changes in energy and at the moment I have never felt better. What happens at the office is you go in and the doctor takes two different samples of your blood and puts it under a microscope and hooks it up to a monitor so you can see your live blood cells and the doctor shows you exactly what's wrong for example your protein digestion, parasites, early cancer signs, toxins, immune system, and thousands of other cell issues. After that you start the diet and a few months later you do the same thing and you will see a difference in your sample. The diet certainly changed my life and I think it is the only good diet.

roundel cafe

For the one full day I spend at home during spring break, my dad dragged me out of the house to the Roundel Cafe on 465 East Hastings Street. I was jet lagged and annoyed that he woke me up just to go to some diner and I expected to hate it. The restaurant was filled so we had to wait for about 15 minutes, which didn't impress me too much. While waiting I noticed everyone had some sort of tattoo, piercing or unnatural hair colour, from a gay couple in the corner to a young family with a baby.

The waitress led us to a seat by the table, but we had to squeeze past chairs, tables and bags. I tried my best not to trip and ruin someones meal. When we finally completed the maze, I started to look through the menu. They had everything from tofu burgers to huevos rancheros to corned beef hash to a side dish of vegetarian bacon. I ordered the tofu scramble and my dad ordered the huevos rancheros. The food came fairly quick despite the crowd.



I am not exaggerating when i say this was the best tofu scramble I have ever had. The tofu was mild and slightly sweet, mixed with spinach, sesame seeds and peppers. It came with roasted white and sweet potatoes and a simple salad. It is a really good dish as an introduction to tofu, because it was cooked perfectly and was defiantly not plain or boring.

I give the Roundel Cafe 9.5/10.

Why Eat Healthy?

1. To provide the necessary nutrients that your body needs to create new cells, clean toxins, and to just function every day!

2. Eating right now can help prevent future diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

3. You will have more energy and be more alert.

Since you are growing, you may find that you are more hungry, or are hungry more often. This is perfectly normal, as long as you need the extra calories to grow.

Overeating and not exercising can lead to unhealthy weight and body conditions. Obesity is defined as having more than 20 percent more than the "ideal" body weight for someone your age and height. If you think that you may be overweight or obese, talk to your parents about ways to become healthier.

If you want to eat healthy, it is important to make healthy choices in what you eat all the time -- meals and snacks.

Foods with refined grains, such as white flour or refined wheat, have high amounts of starch that the body just stores away and doesn't use. Try to eat more whole grains such as whole wheat (bread, etc.), brown rice and oats -- which provide energy over a longer period of time after you eat them.

The food guide pyramid outlines the basic areas of foods:

• Bread, cereal, rice and pasta (remember: whole grains are healthier!)
• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Milk, yogurt and cheese
• Meat, poultry and fish
• Fats, oils and sweets

Remember to eat a balanced, varied diet, and eat sweets and foods that are high in fat or calories only in moderation. Following a healthy diet is something you must do for your entire life.

You don't have to give up cake, ice cream or pizza, but remember not to eat these often, and to eat lower-fat or lower-sugar versions. Have milk or juice instead of soda, or have diet soda. Instead of cookies after school, have fruit, veggies, popcorn (low fat -- don't use too much butter) or pretzels.

Healthy Snacks:

• Fruits
• Veggies
• Popcorn
• Rice cakes
• Whole wheat bread or crackers
• Dried fruits (raisins, prunes, etc.)
• Fat-free or low-fat cheese or yogurt
• Pretzels
• Cottage cheese